Man arrested in child porn sting

MISSION VALLEY  A San Diego man was arrested Thursday in an FBI sting, when he showed up at a Mission Valley hotel prepared to molest two little children, the FBI said.

The woman he expected to meet, with a 1-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl, was an undercover FBI agent, agency spokesman Darrell Foxworth said Friday.

Samuel Farinas Fernandez Jr., 32, was taken into custody on federal charges of child pornography and enticement of a minor.

Foxworth said the case against Fernandez started last fall in Cleveland, where local FBI agents were investigating a man suspected of trading child pornography images on a Russian image-hosting website. William J. De Clark IV, 32, admitted in October to swapping the images and having inappropriate physical contact with two children living near him, Foxworth said.

DeClark had been sending child porn back and forth with more than 100 other people, including Fernandez, Foxworth said. He said some of the emails included three videos of very young children being molested.

Investigators took over DeClark’s account and kept corresponding with Fernandez, Foxworth said. He said Fernandez is alleged to have expressed interest in taking pictures or videos of children being molested, then later said he wanted to take part in it.

Fernandez also is alleged to have agreed to meet a woman and the two children at a Mission Valley hotel. He arrived about 10:40 a.m. Thursday and was arrested, Foxworth said.

Foxworth said the investigation was conducted under the FBI’s Innocent Images National Initiative, coordinating with the Internet Crimes Against Children nationwide task force.